I'm about half way through this book so far and really enjoy it. There is one question I have, though, that I have always wondered about. In the book, Bergeron mentions how Mat Fraser wasn't great at rowing, so once home from the games he bought one and rowed 3-5,000m every day. I know rowing and air dyne biking are considered eccentric-less movements so they don't necessarily interfere with recovery, but isn't it also true that doing such things in excess can have a negative effect on performance overall? Is this suggesting it's better to never have a day off? I also noticed he said Fraser would flip the pig for hours every Sunday at night time. Does a point of diminishing returns apply to anyone anymore? Certainly if I just went out to my garage gym and said I want to get better at squats so therefore I'm just going to do 1,000 reps of squats every single day, would NOT make me stronger at squats. I'm all for working very hard, training hard, and frequency in training, but I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around how this type of stuff applies to most people. If one is willing to put forth similar effort, but their bodies aren't physically capable of doing that much, what is the problem exactly?

In case you check in again I'll throw out several points that help make sense of this:

1) High level crossfit athletes work for years to be able to handle a large workload.

2) A daily row/bike, can be added fairly easily as long as the intensity is low. An all out max effort 5k will have a significant recovery cost, but a nice easy 5k at 70% heart rate is easy to recover from. This type of regular low intensity work (cardio, essentially) is a great addition to develop an aerobic base and longer duration endurance, both of which are a necessary component for top CrossFitters.

Can't speak for Matt but I can speak for myself and rowing. I committed to a 1,000,000 meters per year program. Basically 2800 meters per day. I am getting older near 50 and my rowing has gone down hill. When I started xfit 7 years ago I could hold better pace with 22-24 spm and pulling much harder. But now I like to come off the rower fresh so I am 27+ and pulling a bit easier. So doing this has not made me a better rower but it has made me a smarter rower. I believe that all of the rowing will pay off in either getting better or slowing down the cycle of age for the rowing aspect. It has added cardio when I normally would say ok I am good and go home. I struggle with MU and rope climbs. Each Sunday I do them along with rowing. Nothing but working on the form.

Looking forward to see if Castro can find some holes in Matt this year. Hope so dude is just too good.